name
Meaning 1
A surname transferred from the nickname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
pontiff
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
-
UK: /ˈpɒntɪf/
-
Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
-
CMU ARPABET: P AA1 N T AH0 F Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
-
CMU ARPABET 2: P AA1 N T IH0 F Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs; a pontifex.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Ancient-Rome, historical
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A bishop of the early Church; now specifically, the Pope.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
Any chief figure or leader of a religion.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
the head of the Roman Catholic Church
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: pope, Catholic Pope, Roman Catholic Pope, Holy Father, Vicar of Christ, Bishop of Rome
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: spiritual leader, Catholic
Narrower terms: antipope, Alexander VI, Pope Alexander VI, Borgia, Rodrigo Borgia, Benedict XIV, Prospero Lambertini, Benedict XV, Giacomo della Chiesa, Boniface VIII, Benedetto Caetani, Calixtus II, Guy of Burgundy, Calixtus III, Alfonso Borgia, Clement VII, Giulio de' Medici, Clement XI, Giovanni Francesco Albani, Clement XIV, Lorenzo Ganganelli, Gregory, Gregory I, Saint Gregory I, St. Gregory I, Gregory the Great, Gregory VII, Hildebrand, Gregory XII, Angelo Correr, Gregory XIII, Ugo Buoncompagni, Gregory XVI, Bartolomeo Alberto Capillari, Innocent III, Lotario di Segni, Innocent VIII, Giovanni Battista Cibo, Innocent XI, Benedetto Odescalchi, Innocent XII, Antonio Pignatelli, John XXIII, Angelo Guiseppe Roncalli, John Paul I, Albino Luciano, John Paul II, Karol Wojtyla, Leo I, St. Leo I, Leo the Great, Leo III, Leo IX, Bruno, Bruno of Toul, Leo X, Giovanni de'Medici, Leo XIII, Gioacchino Pecci, Giovanni Vincenzo Pecci, Martin V, Oddone Colonna, Nicholas V, Tomasso Parentucelli, Paul III, Alessandro Farnese, Paul VI, Giovanni Battista Montini, Pius II, Aeneas Silvius, Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Pius V, Antonio Ghislieri, Pius VI, Giovanni Angelo Braschi, Giannangelo Braschi, Pius VII, Barnaba Chiaramonti, Luigi Barnaba Gregorio Chiaramonti, Pius IX, Giovanni Mastai-Ferretti, Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, Pius X, Giuseppe Sarto, Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, Pius XI, Achille Ratti, Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, Pius XII, Eugenio Pacelli, Sixtus IV, Francesco della Rovere, Sylvester II, Gerbert, Urban II, Odo, Odo of Lagery, Otho, Otho of Lagery, Urban V, Guillaume de Grimoard, Urban VI, Bartolomeo Prignano, Urban VIII, Maffeo Barberini
History
Etymology
From pontiff, a nickname for someone who had played the role of the pope in a medieval religious play, or for a vain and pompous person.
Borrowed from Middle French pontife m, from Latin pontifex m. Doublet of pontifex.
Across languages
Translations
31 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Asturian: pontífiz — pope
- Belarusian: панты́фік (pantýfik) — pope
- Bulgarian: понтифекс (pontifeks) — pope
- Catalan: pontífex — pope
- Chinese Mandarin: 教皇 (jiàohuáng) — pope
- Chinese Mandarin: 教宗 (jiàozōng) — pope
- Dutch: paus — pope
- Dutch: hogepriester — pope
- Dutch: pontifex — pope
- Esperanto: ĉefpastro — pope
- Estonian: pontifeks — pope
- Finnish: pontiff — pope
- French: pontife — pope
- Georgian: პონტიფექსი (ṗonṭipeksi) — pope
- German: Pontifex — pope
- Greek: ποντίφικας (pontífikas) — pope
- Italian: pontefice — pope
- Japanese: 教皇 (kyōō) — pope
- Korean: 교황 (gyohwang) — pope
- Persian: پونتیفکس (pontifeks) — pope
- Polish: pontyfik — pope
- Portuguese: pontífice — pope
- Romanian: pontif — pope
- Russian: понти́фик (pontífik) — pope
- Slovak: pontifex — pope
- Spanish: pontífice — pope
- Spanish: vicediós — pope
- Spanish: vicecristo — pope
- Tagalog: pontipise — pope
- Ukrainian: понти́фік (pontýfik) — pope
- Vietnamese: giáo hoàng — pope